This week’s teacher: Polly Liontis

Polly Liontis, AOBTA – CP, HITA, is a yoga teacher, Zen Shiatsu practitioner and instructor, and licensed massage therapist. She teaches therapeutic yoga to patients in the Integrative Medicine Program at North Shore University Health System. She also teaches yoga and meditation at Evolution Yoga Studio. With her partner, Chuck Frenkel, Polly also conducts Gong Immersions (Sound Healing Workshops), in which she plays ancient Himalayan Singing Bowls and chants the Sanskrit mantras. For more information, visit www.ShreeSacredSounds.com and www.youtube.com (search bar for her channel – Polly Liontis)

3. What is the philosophy you try to instill in your students? I don’t try to instill any philosophy, but endeavor to encourage the students to explore the laboratory of their own body, mind, and spirit, with curiosity and love.

4. What was one of your most profound moments in teaching? There are so many. The most profound moments are when I have the privilege to witness the heart, mind, and body of a student open to their own internal radiance.

5. What do you see influencing or affecting yoga teachers and students in the next five years? Positively, the tremendous amount of knowledge of yoga being shared on the platforms of social media through videos, podcasts, audio files, and online classes. More questionably, the influence of the “business” of yoga pandering the “21st century culture of yoga” to the elite and affluent members of society.